Thursday, May 10, 2007

News You Can't Use

Sometimes you just find yourself with a gun and a barrel full of fish. Well, that’s how I feel right now. It’s almost too easy to pull the trigger on this little creature, entitled “Raiders continue on a wayward course.”

After all, the publisher of this intellectual jewel just launched something called Media Watch (hmm…that sounds familiar…I should have thought of that...) to “provide our readership with an opportunity to call out individual members of the media who say or write something on the board of outlandish. Here's how it works: If you hear a talk radio personality, newspaper columnist or television commentator make an assertion that sounds contrived or is just flat-out stupid, simply e-mail us.”

Guys, it’s already time to email yourselves.

Exhibit A: “The first move in a series of oddities was the firing of Art Shell and the subsequent hiring of Lane Kiffin as Oakland's head coach.”

How odd, they fired a coach whose team won two games amid utter coaching chaos.

Exhibit B: “So to compound the original mistake of hiring Shell last season, they followed it by hiring the youngest head coach in the NFL, the 31-year-old Kiffin. It's hard to imagine a coach who is younger than many of the players on the team coming in and commanding respect.”

Yeah, that was a real problem for John Madden, Al Davis, Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher, who were 32, 33, 34 and 34 respectively when they got their first NFL head coaching gigs.

Exhibit C: “Two other dumbfounding moves were the acquisition of quarterback Josh McCown and wide receiver Mike Williams from the Detroit Lions in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick.”

Josh McCown is our likely starting quarterback come September. Until trading for him, our QB depth chart lacked a veteran presence as a hedge against an unproven Walter and Russell’s lack of NFL experience. You might question why we didn’t go out and get a more proven quarterback earlier, but to call this trade, at that point in time, “dumbfounding” is, well, you know…dumbfounding.

Hey, why are all those little fishies swimming upside down?

And that, Raiders fans, is the one, the only, the original News You Can’t Use.

98 Comments:

The next thing you know he will begin bashing our O-line. Noting that the Raiders did "nothing" in the free agent market or draft to address the "worst O-line in the history of the NFL" (not my words).

Forget that virtually every player on the line will be back to familiar positions, especially Sims at LT. Forget that Tom Cable will be installing a zone scheme. Forget that we brought in Carlisle from Denver, a solid veteran guard, or Newberry, who if healthy, could become a pro bowl contender again at center. And don't forget that Gallery really hasn't had a chance to prove his worth yet, and we are not prepard to throw him under the bus yet, is moving back to the RT position where he performed well before the Shell era.

And last of all, don't forget that Grove played very well at the RG position before being named the starting center.

Essentially, the O-line is completely reformed and key players added, as well as some depth.

I know this issue didn't come up in the latest column bashing, but I have already seen it a number of times in other media and I expect we haven't seen the end of the "O-line Controversy".

Yeah, I read this too, and I actually thought it was some sort of parody or joke. After all, who in their right mind would consider firing Shell and hiring Kiffin "wayward?"

Also, the RSS link to this particular article isn't under the "Media Watch" heading, so I thought it might have been some sort of mistake. I might be way off, but I assume that someone is administering the page and manually placing RSS feeds under particular headings, and that that person would also be a Raider fan. In any case, that article needs to be included with the other Media Watch articles.

The Raider Nation lacks intellect according to the folks at Football 365, including Jerry mcDonald who is in their words "spell check challanged". But I'm a card carrying member of the Nation and noticed right off, that the one syllable, 5 letter word "rogue" was mispelled within the first 8 words of the article. Someone should inform this Einstein that "rouge" is for reddening the cheeks of women. or polishing their jewelry, but then again... most male 49er's fans are probably major comsumers of rouge also.

I remember something that Tim Brown said last season. Brown said that coaches and players weren't attempting to avoid playing for the Raiders because of Al Davis, they were avoiding the Raiders because of Lombardi. But you'd have never heard that from the press. You don't undermind a "source."

This article, reading between the lines, seems to bear out what Brown said. Remember some of us being excited about the possibility of bringing in Hill before the hiring of Shell. Hill refused to interview with Lombardi. Patrino turned down Lombardi, not Davis.

We all know that Al has been investigating the possibilities for when he is no longer capapble of running the team. I think Al's original front runner was Lombardi. In fact, I think the choice of Norv Turner as HC was Lombardi's.

When Norv didn't work out, Davis allowed Lombardi to pursue Patrino and Hill. When both refused an interview, Davis decided to bring in Shell because he thought Shell would provide Lombardi with some added credibility (having been a Raiders HC and a league executive). But Lombardi didn't want Shell, made that very clear, and Shell and Lombardi never got along (both trying to establish stonger positioning within the organization).

After the season, Davis decided to clean house and start over. He attempted to find someone capable of running the entire football operations (eliminating front office competition and rivalries), and he believes he found that in Kiffin.

Word has it that the Raiders have plenty of room under the cap with the elimination of Moss. As for Burgess, he's not going to hold out (and he's said as much). He does want a raise, and his agent in currently negotiating in good faith.

We did a great job as Raider fans over there a few days ago when this article came out. By the time I posted my own angry comments, there were like 10 pages. Even today there is an artice by a different author on that website and the Riader fans are still bitching about THIS one in those comments sections. Clasic.

The Raiders already have their guy to replace Lombardi in the front office. He was brought in by Kiffin. His name is Mark Jackson. If you remember, when Mark Jackson was brought in, a lot of us Raider fans (myself included) said this was the end for Lombardi; in that we believed Jackson was going to take over his duties.I've said it before, and I say it again here, because it's relevant. My personal opinion is that Al Davis hired Kiffin to eventually take over the team. I believe that the majority of these decisions made have come straight from Kiffen, and finalized by Al. Al said it best when he compared himself to Kiffin, and brought forth the similarities between the 2. I think he was tipping his hand to the press as to who was taking over at that press conference. I think Blanda is right with his assessments of Lombardi. I do think he has the capabilities to run a team, just not the Raiders. I was truly hoping that Bruce Allen would have stuck around, but I think Kiffin is the better choice at this point. I think Lombardi ends up in Detroit at the end of the season. Matt Millen will (and should) lose his job.

Tommy Kelly had 68 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 passes defensed, and one forced fumble at DT last season. He had more sacks the previous two seasons, but he started all but four of those games at DE. Hence, last season was Kelly's first full season playing DT.

I seem to remember Warren Sapp commenting about Kelly's athleticism being impressive.

I think he's right on the verge of really distinguishing himself as a dominant DT.

nate,kiffin hired to eventually take over the team? you mean like ownership or a piece of it? hmm, don't thnk so. remember last year, everyone said that very same thing about shell. look what happened there.

as for allen, he DID do a good job in evaluating personnel and manipulating the salary cap but man when you think about it, the raiders as a team got really old. remember, he brought in guys - older veteran guys so they could win right now. the raiders, although we were winning games, were among the oldest teams in the league.

i wish davis had the foresight to skip ahead a few years, forget about retreads turner and shell and go straight to a kiffin type. we wouldn't have been in this mess! we'd probably be fully rebuilt and in contention by now for another superbowl. but it's al so..... let's go with what we have now and see what the kiffster can do for us.

i trust this guy but does al? one of the writers brought up an interesting point last week. don't remember who it was but he said the kiffin honeymoon is going alright so far, but what if during the season there is a 3rd and short situation that fails. will davis get in his grill and start coaching again? or something to that effect.

one other thing i'm worried about is kiffin - if he wins and wins big he'll be the face of this franchise - hmmm, remember that one? as in gruden? al won't put up with that. i remember an interview bruce allen had on knbr a few years back. the interviewer kept asking hin if gruden's contract'll be renewed. he said they're working on it. i thought to myself - this is the kiss of death. soon after, gruden was traded and we went tunbling down. will history repeat itself once again?

scorpio,i still think kiffin is going to be a part of the ownership. in all reality, al knows his time is ticking away. he wants to see the raiders succeed before he goes. he knows he has to bring someone in, to help with football operations. the other partner with kiffin has been established for several years, amy trask. a few years ago, a writer (i believe from espn) said, "she has bigger brass ones than most of the other men doing her job in the nfl."i think as long as al is alive he will contribute, and i think when he goes, the raiders' organization will be "endowed" with the majority of his $$$. if his wife goes before him, the all of his $$$ will go to the raiders' organization. what other owner has done that? rooney of the steelers, i believe is the only other owner to do that. only because his sons were in charge.i think al's comments stick out the most when he compares himself to kiffin. who else in history has al davis said that about? NOBODY! again, i could be wrong, it's my personal opinion. as far as shell, people were saying that, because that came straight out of shell's mouth. he imploded with lombardi, who was in the same spot with trask and shell. davis hasn't been in the front office regularly in 2 years now because he is caring for his wife, who is trying to recover from a stroke. he's testing the waters to see how the organization will be ran after he is gone. it wasn't being ran well under lombardi; and recent events proves that, and davis gave him the pink slip to solidify it. so now, it's kiffin, jackson, and trask's jobs to lose.the reason why i feel this way, is al davis does not want his team's fate to fall into the hands of the nfl.

I did not understand what you were trying to say when you made the statement of Lombardi hiring old players so we could "win now", as far as I remember the one that hired Rice, Rod Woodson, Romo and all the older players was Allen, they played for Gruden and Callahan, after these two coaches were gone the Raiders weaved all the old timers and since then the oldest player that we have had in the team is Sapp (at least to my knowledge).

I also believe that Mr. Davis is like Marlon Brando in the Godfather, he knows that his time is up and it's time to relinquish his power and let "Kiffin" become the new Godfather, his last words to Michael were "there just wasn't enough time"

Legends are never all that they are reported to be. The thing I've recognized about Al Davis over the years is that he is all about the Raiders (and his family).

Everything Al has ever done which affects the Raiders, Al has done for the Raiders (at least in his own mind). Certainly not everything he's done has been a success, but he's had more success than most. Sure, Al has a tremendous ego, but he also understands that his ego is not validated unless the Raiders succeed.

The notion that Al forced out Gruden because of jealousy, I think is absurd. Nobody has ever even said that, except for a couple of mediots who have proven their lack of worth over the years.

Anyone who knows about Gruden knows that he is extraordinarily close to the rest of his family. Gruden left, as stated by both he and Al, that being a head coach in Gruden's home town (surrounded by his family) was an opportunity too great to ignore. (He has even employed members of his family on the Buc staff.) And when Gruden left, Al tried to make sure it benefited the Raiders.

My main concern about the post Davis Raiders is his son. His son has really shown no public involvement in the organization over the years. I have no idea what his talents are. But Al has said that his son will take control of the team when Al is gone (although Al will leave an organizaton in place for him). My fear is that we'd wind up in another John York situation.

BR,al may have said that his son will eventually take over, but his son has shown no interest in doing so. i think al realizes this too, in that his son wants to make a name for himself.i think his son will be a part of the raiders' organization, but not on the front of player/football relations. i think he will help in the areas of marketing, and the business/behind-the-scenes end of the organization. for the majority part, i believe trask, jackson, and kiffin will handle the majority of the duties/decision making for the raiders. the reason why i think this, again, is because al's son has no interest in what his father has done; which is why al has been working the last 7 years trying to establish a solid foundation for the organization as a whole. he has scrapped everything he's built up to this point; with the exception of amy trask; whom al respects more than anyone in that orginization. this is a big reason why we lost bruce allen. he wanted to be in charge of all operations, and al said no; he was only going to be in charge of football operations. so when the opportunity arose to go to tampa (where he assumes all the responsibility he wanted), he took it. out of the gruden era, bruce allen is the only one who left do to disagreements with al davis. they both respect each other, and are still friends; but allen wasn't getting what he wanted, and found another place that would give it to him.so that forced al to start from scratch again. shell came out and set a fire with his honesty, and burned his own bridge. he seemed to fit the bill, because he does have league administration experience; but he quickly butted heads with lombardi, and both started trying to push each other out. al got rid of them both.now al has a guy in place as coach, and sees a guy that brings back memories of his younger days. assistant coach at usc, top recruiter, first job in the nfl is the raiders; and they both have the ambition to turn this team around. these are statements from al's mouth! again, i pose the question, who has al davis ever said that about in the past? NOBODY.al went on to lead the raiders team to success on the field. he did it in his first season. then bought the team the next. i truly think he sees kiffin doing the same. now al and kiffin have the support staff in place to do it, with mark jackson and amy trask. it's now their jobs to lose. again, this is just personal speculation on my part; but i've never seen al davis act this way. i've never seen him brag about anyone at his hiring conference; let alone do it with a smile! i believe this will happen in the next 2 years. but if kiffin's success is immediate, we could see it happen at the end of this next season. just something to chew on.

I tend to agree with you. But Al was talking about his son being the one to take over right after he hired Art Shell. At the time, I got the impression that Al was intent on leaving a knowledgable organization in place which his son would manage as owner (but the others would conduct the football operations and business operations).

But the fact is that I remember Al saying similar things about Gruden. I believe that Al hoped that Gruden would become what he sees possible for Kiffin right now.

I think what Al is currently attempting to do (based on the failures of the recent years) is to find two different groups (one led by Kiffin, and the other led by Trask) who are only ambitious in regard to their area of interest. Kiffin will manage football operations, Trask will manage buisness operations, and Al's son will be the glue that holds the two together and keeps them communicating. I don't expect that Al's son will ever become the "public face" of the Raiders.

But what is very clear to me is that Al Davis likes what he sees in Kiffin far more than what he liked in Gruden. I actually believe that right now Al is happy that things have worked out the way they have, because I believe he thinks that he has the strongest organization he's ever had before.

From what I've seen this off season, I tend to agree with him. There will no doubt be some rocky times. There always are. We'll know for sure when we see how those rocky times are handled.

I was going to reply, but then Allyoop took the words out of my mouth. Kiffin certainly has a lot of potential. But only time will tell if he's a true Raider to the bone like Trask is. Whenever Al passes, it seems to me like we're rolling with whoever we have in place at the time. Let's just be glad Lombardi won't be the guy, that shit just wasn't working, and if Al weren't around to handle it I wonder how his son would've responded, IF he would've responded. I'm hanging onto my faith that Al's kid is competant. Blood or not, Al wouldn't set up the love of his life (Raiders) for failure if he thought his son wouldn't do a good job of bringing in the right people to run it. We'll be OK. Trask knows her stuff and she knows what Al would do for the most part. She'll have input even if someone else calls the shots. Personally, I'd like to see a committee approach with input from people like Madden, Flores, Shell, Willie Brown etc. on who gets hired to run the football side of it, and Al's son making the call.

Nobody is calling anything a done deal - with the exception of Amy Trask. I believe that Amy Trask has run the business end of the operation, almost on her own, for several years now.

The problem that Al has been having is running the football operations. For that part of the Raiders, Davis needs two people (a money man to deal with cap issues, and a strategist/personnel guy to identify coaching and player talent). Last season was Lombardi and Shell, but they obviously didn't mix. Lombardi obviously had no problem stabbing the organization in the back in favor of his own ambition, and Shell turned out to be lousy at both identifying talent and strategy.

Nobody is suggesting anything is written in stone, but Al's obviously experimenting with mixes and matches.

In regard to Al's son, I haven't a clue. You'd never know he had a son. He's a complete wild card.

With all that said, when Al is gone, the Raiders will never be the same. A good portion of their entertainment value will be eliminated. Just like the A's were never quite the same when Charlie O was gone. But then, Charlie O damaged his team in ways that Al would never consider.

Well put, BR. I have a feeling we'll be fine. There are too many dedicated, loyal people in the Raider family to allow the pirate ship to sink after Al is gone.

As Al gets older, he will become more and more of a double-edged sword IMO. He's our gift and our curse at times. The 'entertainment value' that you speak of gradually shifts from the old 'Raider Mystique' to the antics of an aging genious who stubbornly won't relinquish control even if he's not as sharp, and he's always willing to go against the grain. Currently Al is probably still as sharp as anyone but that cannot last forever. Even if there is still pure genious behind some of the things Al does, it starts to become more and more questionable simply because of how old the guy is. The point where this becomes trouble is when his own people start questioning things that they're supposed to carry out. Hopefully it never reaches that point, but we all know how unwilling Al will be to 'let it go'. Young Kif hopefully is the answer to that problem, since the old man acts like he's looking into a mirror in regards to Kif.

I don't know why I went off on that subject, but whatever. I guess I'm glad to see young protege Kif getting a surprising amount of room to work with. He hasn't even coached his first pre-season game yet, and the guy seems to have his fingerprints on the entire organization. I hope he IS who Al thinks he is, and so far all signs point to yes. I'm pumped about the future, and I'm crossing my fingers that Kif proves to be a Raider 4 life. But yeah, we have a long way to go before anyone tags him as a successor to Al.

"Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated says he'll vote no when Patriots WR Randy Moss comes up on the Hall of Fame ballot."

What? All the sudden he's our buddy, or does he just hate all things that are Raiders, past, present and future?

A guy like that shouldn't even get to vote in his local school district ballot, let alone a HOF ballot.

Regarding Lane Kiffin as the next Al Davis, I wouldn't go there. Wasn't Kiffin somewhat of an accidental hire?... in a good way of course. Let's see him piece the team back together before we give him the crown jewel. With respect to the former, I have very high hopes.

coachella, i didn't say that. i said: as for allen, he DID do a good job in evaluating personnel and manipulating the salary cap but man when you think about it, the raiders as a team got really old. remember, he brought in guys - older veteran guys so they could win right now. the raiders, although we were winning games, were among the oldest teams in the league.

Al owns the controlling interest in the team, making him the managing owner. There have been some recent rumors that Al is seeking to sell off a portion of his holding, as long as there is a contract somewhere that he is still managing owner. Nothing seems to have come of these rumors, so no one knows if there was ever any truth to them.

Even though Kiffin was an accidental hire (in a sense), I believe Al when he says that he started out knowing what he wanted, but stumbled on to something better. Somehow I don't believe that Al was prepared to give up this much authority to Sarkisian, and I think that was the stumbling block in the Sarkisian interviews.

Sark said, "I want ..." Al said, "I don't know that I'm prepared to give that to you, but I'll give it to him (Kiffin)."

The other thing that is unusual, I don't remember ever seeing Al give more than three years to anybody (with the exception of Gruden). Al had long term plans for Gruden, and he now has them for Kif. What remains is to see if Kif is as good as advertised and determining where Kif's ambitions are.

Raider 00: That dog fighting ranch was sold 2 days ago below market value. I believe it went for $375k and was appraised at $737k. It sold the 1st day it was on the market. It seems rather suspect that K9Vick sold it so quickly. I feeble attempto to cover his tracks, perhaps? Go to profootballtalk.com for the latest on K9Vick. My guess is when the investigation is complete, Vick will be suspended the entire year and PETA will be off the NFL's back.

Yeah, it really looks like the Falcons jumped the gun by trading Schaub. If Vick gets suspended for the year, they are left with no one.

Oh well, I think Aaron Brooks is still available.

Bobby Petrino should be the poster boy for coaches looking for the "perfect" situation to become HC.The Raiders were to messy for old Bobby, so he went to Atlanta where it was all set up for him.Trouble is that sometimes, looks can be deceiving.

The etymological origins of the "rule of thumb" adage have nothing to do with wife beating. It's a silly myth made popular by the movie "he Boondock Saints." Rather, the phrase "rule of thumb" comes from, as many might expect, a crude method of gauging distance and ascertaining measurement. its exact origin is not universally accepted, but all the best guesses place its origin with different various trades, and not deriving from English Common Law.

We've got folks wielding words like "etymological" and talking about Chinese traditional medicine, old English law and PETA. Guess that tired smack about Raiders fans being stupid one-dimensional neanderthals will have to be re-examined.

But you are right to the fact that he brought in old timers to win our problem was that once the vets left we were left without a foundation, in retrospect we are sitting now in the possibility to not only have a good team for a while but the way it looks to me if not a dinasty a power house for a long time.

"Rule of Thumb" - At first glance you'd think the larger Englishman has the advantage, being able to beat his wife with a stick as thick as his large thumb. But it's the smaller ones that hurt more. Some of you might be familiar with the term "Pick a switch" from your childhood or something. I know a person who always picked the bigger ones (sticks) for their mom to beat them with because it would break faster.

Words or wisdom Raider Nation, it's not the size of the stick, but what you do with it.

And don't ever look down upon a woman, unless of coarse she's giving you head. :)

Right on the money is the conversation about the old guys Lombardi alwasy brought us. While I felt that we got some excellent tallent last year, in the several years previous we were woefully deficient in our draft choices.

And think about that for a minute. The decent draft choices we got were originally mentored by the likes of Brown, Rice, Gannon... Then by the likes of islands Brooks and Moss. In other words, when the Raiders' offense lost their leadership, it was never replaced. Player leadership can not be over estimated.

Now where the hell is Tank? I knew fans just like Tank in the 1990s. But then they were called 49er fans.

Tank is thinking that the Pats are all fixed now. Never again will NE have team that isn't competing for the Super Bowl.

Well, here's reality, Tank. You will again have a team that is sub 500. It's inevitable. It's called, "life in the NFL." But the key to being a great team is how you replace personnel over time. When sitting on the top of the heap, you don't get great draft choices and you have to rely on free agency.

NE has shown the first sign of tripping and not being able to get up by the signing of a player who has proven beyond reasonable doubt that he's lazy and just doesn't give a damn.

Hey, but Tank, the good news is that Randy gets along great with his teammates. He just doesn't get along with his coaches after awhile. At that point he'll rally the players to his point of view until they all start telling the coaches to go f themselves.

im not gonna lie, i think Moss is going to do well this year. he is in an established winning team environment and he's easily the premiere receiver on that team. he'll have a couple of decent years. but, the pats are getting old, which is why they're throwing money around to give it a go before rebuilding. moss is getting old too, and his unique skills of out-leaping and running any guy covering him are diminishing. he'll be better than last year, but he'll also be less of the unreal receiver he was at Minnesota.

It's unfortunate Moss would not restructure his contract to remain with the Raiders. I'm not going to lie, I was sad to see him go. I think he will be back in the pro-bowl next season. He was just the wrong fit at the wrong time. I know he checks out when he's not happy. But he'll be happy as a Patriot, and he will be great again. Bummer.

Bama7we just need to ignore the comments and win and all will be fine.A few things bothering me since the draft:#1 we took this corner Bowie and safety frampton when LB Brandon Siler was on the board? This is a typical bad move by us. We seemed to be loaded at DB and these two DB's seem hardly special and yet we ignore a great LB when Sam Williams is our starter. Brandon Siler is a great LB, how he made it to the 7th round is unbelievable and the Chargers gain... wait and see.2. I'd love to see us take Keyshawn. Say what you want about the guy but he is a receiver that will go across the middle, take a hard pop and see that the chains get moved in a crucial situation. I don't see any other WR like that on our roster other than Curry, but curry is just an injury waiting to happen. I can think of at least 4 recievers/TE's on our team that we could dump for Keyshawn. dump 'em all. Dump Whitted, Morant, madsden, Francis blah, blah blah.3. Denver's talking to Sam Adams. This guy can still clog the middle and stuff the run. Is hawthorne coming around? Can Sapp clog the middle 50 pounds lighter? Is Kelly anything more than a poor man's Sapp? Can Terdell play more than 2 snaps before leaving for a twenty minute breather? WAY TOO MANY QUESTIONS AT DT. MANY MORE AT DE. Take Sam Adams in a 1 year deal if for no other reason than to keep denver from getting him.

Bama 7 Do you realize the importance of the special teams? Or, are the offenses in the SEC so dominant that it was just a natural oversite on your part to overlook their significance in the NFL. Could it be Frampton isn't black enough for you.

Bama-The lack of attention to the middle of the D-line is somewhat of a mystery to all of us, but I think we need to reserve judgement on some of the late round selections. Frampton is said to be a head-hunter and aggressive to the line of scrimmage against the run (a player Kiffin has first-hand knowledge).

Most of the late-round picks are initially "targeted" for special teams, which was an area easily as bad as any other facet of the Raiders last year. With the speed we've added, I expect special teams to show the earliest improvement.

We signed Rich Snead from the Titans' personnel dept. to replace Lombardi. He's one of the guys we targeted so it looks like we did well. He'll report directly to Kiffin, so we don't have to worry about fighting and media leaks (not necesarilly a good thing for you and I).

I guess my only concern with this guy is how the Titans treated McNair when they drafted Young. Hopefully it wasn't Snead's idea to basically throw McNair to the curb with no explaination and a 'peace' sign up in the air. I thought that was f'd up.

Hey RT, I'm feenin' for a TAKE over here. It's like a nuclear bomb went off at the media headquarters, nobody is talking.

Bama7I have nothing against Frampton. Keep in mind that there are a lot of LB's on special teams as well. Two of the best special teamers in the league are Ryan Fowler & Brendon Ayandadejo... both LB's... so special teams doesn't necessarily always mean a lightening quick DB (you need big bodies/blockers too).I'm just ready to see Sam William's scholarship rescinded... and Siler's everything that opposing AFC west teams have been about... tough, blue collar football players... the Donnie Edwards, the Al Wilsons... the John Lynchs etc etc. These guys don't clock well in shorts and tee shirts, but they'll knock the shit out of you in the game. Taking a guy like Bowie in front of Siler is why we haven't one an AFC West game in a awhile. Classic raider valuing speed and potential over proven, blue collar football skill. Kiffen seems to be changing this soemwhat though (good).Siler was the leader of the Florida defense and is a very good football player, which we'll see now that he's on the Chargers. Let's see how many plays Frampton and Bowie make in the coming years as opposed to Siler. I may be right, may be wrong. I'll leave it at that. Can we at least pick up Godfrey since the Chargers let him go, or did someone else grab him?

I personally am heartbroken that we did not take Oscar Lua on the draft, he is a local boy from down the street from where I live, he and his family are great people with a good solid foundation, he will be competing for a posistion with the pat's, he is not the fastest player on the field by no means but if you remember he was the LB's captain for USC, I think that he would have brought leadership to our linebackers corps, he is also not affraid to play on the special teams.

I wish him well, I only hope that I could have wish him well in Oakland.

Here's some food for thought. We have a problem at LB. With Bing moving to safety, there is only Thomas to push Williams. But even beyond that, we have precious little experience at LB. If any of the three starters go down with a prolonged injury, we could be in some trouble.

hey coachella, school's out until june 6. in the meantime, me and my guys are working hard to reconfigure our computer lab here at ole' lincoln university in downtown oakland.

hey everyone, i have a question.... we all know that mark jackson was brought in for player evals, contracts, keeping an eye out for future free agents and/or scouting. now that this snead guy has been hired to do those very things, what role does jackson now play? does anyone know that?

The fact that we didn't bring a guy like Lua to compete for the LB's position worries me, I know that Lua was injury prone but at the 7th. round he was a steal, besides with all his injuries he was the LB's captain for SC, I wonder why if Kiffin is from SC he didn't pick him up.

Scorpio:

Keep up the good work my brother, like Al Pacino said in the godfather "I need lawyers and doctors not tugs"

Bama7Blanda I am with you on the LB concern that's why it amazed me that we passed on Brandon Siler for a track guy like Bowie (?). Siler made it to the 7th round and he's much better than that.Godfrey may still be available... San Diego let him go.Maybe we're looking at the inexperienced guys in camp to see if someone has something and if they don't we'll take someone after the cuts start (?).Shotwell intrigues me because of how productive he was in college, albeit against lesser competition. He still seems like a tackling machine and has a good nose for the ball. I'd give him the job over Williams without even seeing shotwell play simply because Williams is so unproductive.Also- must send out some encouragement for a former DAWG on our roster... Chris Clemons (LB). I don't remember him doing much at Georgia but hell we was there with Boss Baily, Witherspoon, Kendrell Bell etc, so maybe he just didn't get a chance to shine.

I tend to cut Williams a little slack because he was a DE when he was drafted. After that, it took a couple of seasons for Ryan to decide how he wanted to work the LB corps. I've always considered him a "project" who had to play because there was nobody else.

But he has tremendous physical tools if he can stay healthy. I think this is going to be Williams bubble year. He's going to step up, or be replaced.

I share the sentiments of the RT Crew in terms of our LB corps being thin. I'm not a big fan of Sam "I'm In the Witness Protection Prgram" Williams who seems to disappear in games, has no instinct or knack for finding the ball. My guess is that Robert Thomas will start at SLB. Shotwell is a nice wild card to keep you eyes on. I also anticipate Bing getting some looks in the "Big Nickel" packages where he will play in the box with Huff & Stu in coverage.

We signed WR Travis Taylor(UF) today for cheap. He put up some decent #s for Minny last year and should fight with Gabriel & BMW for the #3 WR slot.

Bama7'Calico & heartland... nice takes. I'm trying to get behind Porter and I do think he'll have a good year under Kiffen, but heartland thanks for reminding me that Porter's never really done a whole bunch to have the hype that he does. His hype is basically built on: one Monday night game in denver in the snow, one superbowl TD that was after the game was decided and one big, meaningless, game against Tennessee back in '05.

Bama7Correct, Calico. Looking forward to a break out year from him.Back to LB and a comment about Chris Clemons a new FA on our team. He has a bit of an injury history but was fairly productive in 2 partial NFL seasons. Playing part time he's registered 5 career sacks... I believe that's more sacks than any other LB's on our team... and he did it in basically mop-up work late in two seasons (came into the league in 2003)Here's the write-up on him: Clemons, as a free agent, then signed with the Washington Redskins in 2003. However, he spent that entire season on injured reserve after suffering a torn ACL. In 2004, he began to establish himself in the Redskins' defense, recording three sacks as a speed rusher late in the season. He was re-signed to the Redskins' active roster on November 24th. He spent the 2004 training camp with the Redskins, but was released and signed to the Cleveland Browns practice squad. He was then on the Redskins again for the 2005 season where he played in 14 games and had 8 tackles, 2 sacks, a blocked punt, and a forced fumble.

Porter can play well and put up the stats, but he's not clutch. He tends to blow it when the drive or the game is on the line. I hope he has learned to handle the presure situations.

According the the ESPN draft guide, CURTIS BROWN was the 28th ranked RB. "Hard, decisive runner who reads blocks well, shows adequate burst through holes and flashes ability to pick up yards after contact. Clasic overachiever whose potential is limited by lack of speed, power and size." The write-up also says he is good in pass protection with CUT-BLOCKING ABILITY.

Here is the funny part:NFL Comparison - Dominic Rhodes.

DOH!

P.S. Hey RT, thanks for cancelling word verification. Now it's so easy to post a comment that a caveman could do it.

Hey, did RT say he was going on vacation or something with Take Jr. & Mrs. Take? I'm getting worried.

I read a comment from the OTA that the D has been getting a lot of pressure on the QB in team drills. Kind of scary. I know our D is good at pressuring but this reminded me of Shell's minicamps. Word out of Camp Shell was the D was way ahead of the O, but "be patient, the D is always ahead of the O". True, but it never came around. I still have faith in this offense but I want to hear good things about the protection. Plus Sapp & Burgess are not even there! Scary indeed.

No need to worry yet. Kif is still swapping folks around. They are looking for the best five to plug into any position. Of course that, in and of itself, would show that there are no standouts on the OL. But we all knew that it would take at least a couple of seasons to rebuild that line.

They've moved Gallery inside. I've always advocated for that. With his short arms he's better suited to G. However, I still think that his best position would be Center.

Yeah I'm trying to keep my cool. I'm sure we'll be far better than last year, but I've been on my toes in regards to the O-line, and when I hear the words 'pressure' and 'QB' I nearly crap my pants. Especially knowing our two best pass rushers are out. But I'm with you. Take away rediculous 7-step drops, half-assed predictable Moss routes, and essentially 3 different blocking schemes, we're already way better.

I'm OK with Gallery moving inside as long as we get good tackle play. Good to see McNasty back in the mix getting a look at RT. I think he can handle it. Hopefully Boothe can beat out Carlisle. Nothing against Cooper, but Boothe can be a dominant player if he keeps this up, and he's a steal where we drafted him.

I don't actually think it will take a few years for the line to come around other than replacing Sims when he's too old. I think they'll improve pretty quick. Besides Tom Cable, the key to improving fast is probably going to be Carlisle's Denver experience. To me the biggest question mark is still Jake Grove. Knowing how confused he must've been last year I'll give him the benefeit of the doubt for now. But I've never seen him play well, and C is most important spot IMO, so yeah I'm still nervous.

I am sure that Petrino is indeed realizing that not only the Raider's have the best fan loyal base but they also have the best owner, Petrino does not have what it takes, I think that Kiffin has shown the world the type of person that Mr. Davis is, you prove to him that you can do the work you are getting payed to do and he will give you all the necessary tools to succeed.

Like the guy in Arizona said before he was put to sleep for good "go Raiders"

I still can't believe how much power Kiffin seems to have. You would think this would shut people up about Al being a control freak, but I doubt it will. The media will continue to recycle the same old BS they're programmed to spew out. The biggest thing to me is the fact that Kif runs personnel. There is no A.J. Smith, Lombardi, or Joe Blow in between him and Al. That's how it should be, just like the Madden era. Screw Patrino, he's Lombardi's boy. Let Vick kill his career and he'll have to watch Kif get everything he needs to win. And Kif will do it with many guys who Patrino didn't want to keep in ATL. Irony is sweeeeet.

I'm not convinced that Gallery isn't strong enough to play guard or even excel at the position. At tackle, Gallery plays more up right and loses leverage a bit when turning to catch the speedy defensive ends running around him. At guard, Gallery's going to be a mismatch against DTs.

you are correct about fast De's giving gallery fits at Lt. but i also saw De's bull rush gallery and push him in any direction they wished. gallery was pretty much powerless to stop them.it's not so much that he isn't strong as much as it is that he has bad balance, and bad balance will kill you anywhere along the 0line.

also, it's not that i'm giving up on gallery. it's the coaches that appear to be giving up on him.after only one short mini camp, already he is being tried at guard.

what should this tell us about a guy who only 3 short years ago was the # 2 overall pick in the draft ??

FLORENCE - Robert Comer never flinched Tuesday morning as he was injected with a lethal cocktail of drugs that put him to death.

Comer took a picture of his daughter into the death chamber with him and seemed defiant as he smiled and maintained eye contact with his witnesses as drugs coursed through his body.

His last words were "Go Raiders!" and with that, his smile slowly faded until he passed out. His chest stopped moving after the third drug was given to him...

Charles Manson is a Raiders fan also. (A friend of mine spent some time in prison with him and couldn't wait to tell me. My friend also used one of his limited phone calls to call me before the 1990 championship game vs. Buffalo!)

What you say about Gallery is true if you are following the man on man, straight up blocking system that was attempted last year. The system this year is a scheme system, a thinking man's system, which may allow Gallery to excel.

Gallery, with his short comings is one of the brightest linemen on the field. I think the reason many of us have not fully given up on Gallery is because we know he succeeded in college, and he's smart enough to eventually figure out what he's doing wrong.

And kvn is right that Gallery's problem isn't strength, it's leverage from standing straight up too quickly. Playing guard, where he doesn't have to worry about footwork, might allow him to focus on keeping low on his blocks. In fact, play some guard might help make him a better tackle.

Is anyone else concerned about whether or not we have the "right" OL personnel to execute ZBS of Cable? If I'm not mistaken, the best ZBS blockers are super athletic, technical lineman as opposed to huge maulers. The only OL that I feel confident about at this point is Cooper Carlisle. I think in 08 Mario Henderson (OT, FSU) will be good. I'm especially worried about our OTs. In my mind, Sims is my biggest worry but we shall see.

Calico - Here is a good article on Gallery and the ZB scheme. The same is probably true for Grove, where basically they're better suited for Zone and we should be better off.

http://www.raidernews.com/article.php?story=20070529070436806

Here is the most interesting part of the article, where Gallery is compared to the top LT's.

"In comparing Gallery's performance over his first three years to the performances of great LOTs today, we see some similiarities. Below are the names of those linemen, the number of games played their first three years, and the number of sacks allowed in that time span, the total number of sacks allowed in that time is in parenthesis...

Thanks Pyscho for the article and insight into our OL as it pertains to ZBS.

Thank you Anon 11:16 for showing your spineless nature. We all realize how proud you are to be a spokesboy & dues paying member of the "Gay Nation". Congratulations now go run along and play with your crayons like a good boy.